LEST WE FORGET
Pilot Officer Philip Harold MORPHETT
Service No: 407522
Born: Adelaide SA, 3 July 1921
Enlisted in the RAAF: 9 November 1940
Unit: No. 11 Squadron (RAF), Feni, Bangladesh
Died: Aircraft Accident (No. 11 Squadron Blenheim aircraft Z7977), Bengal, 5 August 1943, Aged 22 Years
Buried: Ranchi War Cemetery, Bengal, India
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Norman Harold and Anna Elizabeth May Morphett, of Fullarton, South Australia
Roll of Honour: Unknown
Remembered: Panel 127, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: World War II Honour Roll, National War Memorial of SA, North Terrace, Adelaide
Blenheim Z7977 crashed at 0648Z on 5 August 1943 during a ferry trip to Nagpur. The aircraft dived into the ground at high speed and exploded on impact and all the crew were killed. There was heavy rain and low cloud at the time. The aircraft crashed 10 kms south of Barabhum, Bengal.
The crew members of Z7977 were:
Pilot Officer Arthur Beresford (145726) (RAFVR) (Pilot)
Warrant Officer Leonard Davies (1112037) (RAFVR) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Corporal Edward William Gillingwater (628345) (RAF) (Quartermaster) (Passenger)
Pilot Officer Philip Harold Morphett (407522) (Second Pilot)
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records (RAAF Casualty Information compiled by Alan Storr (409804))
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
Department of Veteran’s Affairs On-Line WWII Nominal Roll
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record A705, 166/28/122